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Sundays can be days when you want to leave the wine in the cellar, especially because Saturday evenings can be pretty… “rough”. But if the right people come together, there’s no reason not to pull out the corkscrew. And even more so, those happen to be the days when you’re most relaxed and savour the wine as you should! A recent Sunday was such a day – we ended up drinking 3 bottles of red wine from 3 different countries.

1967 Castiglione del Bosco, Brunello Di Montalcino made the start – from a bottle that was filled into the neck. Colour was still fairly dark with just the minimum of orange brown hue you would expect with a wine that age. After half an hour open the nose was at its peak with some berries and a little spice. On the palate the feel was better than you would expect from such an old wine with a little density, something reminding berry fruit and a hint of spice. On the finish it was quite short; but still, I’m always impressed with a more than 40 year old wine that is drinkable with enjoyment. According to the books, 1967 was also quite a potent vintage, or as Italians might say it: annatta ottima!

Second, a wine from our latitudes. Well… international varietal, but straight from the Riesling country. But actually the Pfalz already proved it can produce some nice reds. Here’s maybe another new comer. We had a 2006 Bissersheimer Goldberg Merlot by Wageck-Pfaffmann. Quite appealing nose full of fruit. A dense body with fruit and tannins- unmistakably Merlot; I think you could mistake it for a Bordeaux though if you haven’t seen the label. A fun wine if you give it some time to breath and lay off its impetuosity. Price-Quality is quite appealing here (about 15 Eur).

Finally a wine that’s been sitting in the decanter for an hour. The 2004 San Vicente Reserva from Rioja was awarded a flood of points: 92 by Parker and 99 by Proensa. It has a quite sexy nose, of various berries, hint of vanilla, something reminding cinnamon, a wine you smell and smell again, to the point you’d nearly forget to drink it. The palate confirms the nearly black colour: very dense and concentrated stuff we have here but also quite grippy to say the least, could need a few more years but on the other hand it also develops nicely in the glass, becomes more velvety and smooth with time, and with some food it’s real good stuff. Closer to 92 than 99 points for me but for sure not a wine I would drop in the sink. One of the better Riojas I had!

“Dense” is actually a great word to describe the Pfaffmann Merlot… I’m not sure if it’s a varietal thing though, as most of their 3 star range is pretty darn concentrated, including the typically “lighter” Spatburgunder.

Anyway, you need to try the cuvee “W”. It’s their Bordeaux blend but unlike the Merlot, it seems to me that it is unmistakably from “our lattitudes”…. and yet still delicious ;)
(You know how I usually feel about German Cabernet.. Knipser “X”. YUCK!)